Tag: Voeung Kam

It used to be that if you wanted to enter Laos from Cambodia, you had to go to the Lao Embassy in Phnom Penh and apply for visa in advance. While Cambodia upgraded their Voeung Kam/Dong Kralor border crossing facility a few years ago to offer visa on arrival, it took Laos a few extra years to follow suit. When I first came to Cambodia, the Lao visa on arrival option was not available but by the time I was ready to leave and head to Laos, this became an option. At least so I’ve heard from a few reports on the internet.

Unfortunately, I have not personally met anyone who got their Lao visa on arrival when entering Laos from Cambodia nor have I gotten a definite YES from any of the bus operators running the bus service between the two countries. I didn’t want to spend extra two or more days in Phnom Penh just so I could secure myself with safe passage to Laos (not a place I would want to spend any more time than I have to), so I decided to take the risk and count on those unconfirmed reports that Laos visa on arrival is now available at the Voeung Kam/Dong Kralor border crossing.

When an Aussie couple who also didn’t have the visa boarded the bus headed for Laos I was on, it made me feel a whole lot better about the whole visa on arrival situation. Until they got on the bus at Stung Treng, I was the only passenger without Lao visa in his passport.

Luckily it definitely is possible and I can now confirm that Lao visa on arrival coming to Laos from Cambodia is now definitely available at the Voeung Kam/Dong Kralor border crossing as I have personally gotten myself one that way. It took less than 5 minutes to have the visa issued during which you wait at the first tiny window on the Lao side of the border. Second window has a different guy whose purpose is to stamp the visa the first guy issued for you. Both visa issuer and visa stamper will insist on a bribe.

Because it was Sunday, the visa stamper guy insisted on a mighty bribe of $2 per person. He was pretty pissed about the fact that he had to be there on the weekend which was reflected in the tone of voice he used when demanding the bribe. The visa issuer guy, on the other hand only bumped the price of visa by $1 compared to what is listed on the websites.

That’s where my biggest beef came from – I don’t know what exactly Laos has against Canada, but for some reason, if you’re a bearer of a Canadian passport, the cost for the visa is much higher than citizens of other countries have to pay. Even Americans have to pay significantly less than Canadians and unlike them, we (Canadians) didn’t even bomb the living beejesus out of Laos during the Indo-China War.

Whatever the reason, the cost of Lao visa for bearers of Canadian passports (whether applied for in advance or obtained on arrival at the border) is the highest of all. While Aussie guys only had to pay $31 each for their visa on arrival ($30 visa fee + $1 bribe), I was asked for $43 ($42 visa fee + $1 bribe). The man behind the small window wrote the amount on a small piece of scrap paper which he then handed to each of us after we handed him the passport.

Unlike most other visas (visas other countries issue), Lao visa on arrival I got had no mention of validity. I had to ask the people on the bus who believed it was 30 days. Either way, I didn’t want to overstay, so I marked the date in my calendar to make sure I leave the country before it’s too late and promised myself to make the most out of this trip as unless Lao officials get over themselves and start charging Canadians a reasonable amount, I’ll think twice before applying for Lao visa again. There’s no reason whatsoever to be so anal with us. We’ve never done anything to them, so why Canada?

The Laos bound bus I boarded in Kratie had only about 10 people on it. Everyone was kind of minding their own business while on the bus, but we struck a conversation during mandatory snack breaks. I’ve heard Lao visa on arrival was available on the Voeung Kam side as of February 2010, but I’ve never actually met anyone who could confirm they got one while crossing the border so I was a bit apprehensive about it. The fact that everyone else on the bus aside from myself already had Lao visa (they applied for in advance at the Lao embassy in Phnom Penh) didn’t make it any easier on me.

Two more backpackers, an Aussie couple boarded the bus in Stung Treng and took a seat right across the aisle from me. They had just finished exploring Ratanakiri, the province I decided not to go to so I asked a bit about how they liked it and what they thought of it. While the guy said he enjoyed the scenery, the girl didn’t like the province at all.

Stung Treng was our last stop before reaching the border crossing at Dong Kralor. There was nothing but a barrier across the road and a small shed on both Cambodian and Lao sides. A true middle of nowhere, with no signs of civilization or any humans involving activity other than the border check huts. The bus dropped us off at Dong Kralor, all of us got off along with our luggage and went to go through the exiting procedure on the Cambodian side.

Bribes on Cambodian Side of the Border

There was one Cambodian inside the border crossing hut and one outside of it. They both worked as a team with demands for bribes. The guy inside would show his palm and say: “One Dolla” while the man standing outside would follow in commanding voice: “Pay one dolla”.

We were all coming from Cambodia so we were all already used to being scammed on every step which resulted in an obedient shell out by the most of us. There was one Dutch fellow who was the most vocal of us all and resisted the scam to the last minute but he was eventually forced into opening his wallet the same way as the rest of us.

I thought that perhaps we should have discussed this beforehand and made a pact that we would all stand up for ourselves as one and then they’d have little leverage to work with. After everyone but me and the Dutch guy were past the immigration and headed towards the Lao checkpoint, we both knew that if we remained adamant, we would get through without paying the bribe, but that wouldn’t go over well with the guys already in the bus whom we’d force into waiting. As I expected the bus driver to be a part of the scamming mafia, he would probably decide to leave if we were to “hinder” the bus by demanding the passage without bribes. But if all of us united against this abuse, the driver would have no option but to wait and the immigration dudes would also have to give in to the group that outnumbered them.

Bribes on Lao Side of the Border

There is a bit of a walk to do after the Cambodian booth to the Lao booth which would constitute actual border crossing. The bus was already waiting for us at the Lao side as it got across while we were dealing with the scammers on the Cambodian side of the border. Bribe demands on Lao side were even worse than on Cambodian side, though.

Luckily for me, the Australian couple that boarded the bus at Stung Treng didn’t have Lao visa either so I wasn’t the only one applying for it. Lao immigration booth had two windows on it. First window was for visa on arrival, the second was to stamp our passports and allow us an entry to the country.

The guy stamping passports demanded two dollars per person for a stamp. That made his bribe 200% higher than the Cambodian one. While I was waiting to get my visa on arrival, I’ve heard the people who already had their visa express their displeasure with unusually high bribe demand.

When asked why he’s demanding so much, the man behind the small, low laid window said that it was the mandatory weekend charge (it was Sunday). He bitched that he had to be at the border crossing on the weekend so he demanded a $2 bribe instead of a more common $1 one.

When my turn came to get a stamp, I already knew what awaited me, but I was still surprised by the way the bribe was demanded. The pocketbook sized window was located where normal sized man’s waist is and all I saw was a hand come out of there, tap the wall and a commanding voice from inside said nothing more but: “Two dolla!” It was said in a voice of an order, not a request. The tone of his voice literally translated into: “Don’t mess with me boy. I’m not gonna ask twice. Hand over two bucks or else!”

Aside from annoying demands for bribes, crossing the Cambodia Laos Border at Voeung Kam/Dong Kralor is an easy and pain free matter. There is no heavy traffic (at least not on Sundays) that goes through this border crossing and if I were to guess, other than the regular bus service between Cambodia and Laos, there are not many days during which this border crossing sees independent travellers with their own means of transportation.

Cambodia has been offering visa on arrival on the Dong Kralor side for a few years but to go to Laos, one needed to apply for visa beforehand. This has changed recently and visa on arrival is now available on the Voeung Kam side for travellers heading to Laos.